Is this the Rob Ford of Pennsylvania?

MARCUS HOOK, Pa. — Mayor James “Jay” Schiliro was convicted Friday on all counts stemming from a wine-fueled episode at his home involving firearms in February.

A jury of nine women and three men took only about three hours to convict Schiliro on charges of reckless endangerment, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, official oppression and furnishing liquor to a minor. In all but the official oppression charge, they found a firearm had been used in the commission of the crime and that it was used in a way that threatened the victim.

“I’m very satisfied that the jury looked at all the evidence and reached the right conclusion,” said Deputy District Attorney Michael Galantino following the verdict.

Neither the victim nor Schiliro had a comment Friday.

The Republican official is finishing a four-year term as mayor and decided not to seek re-election after the criminal charges were filed against him. He has refused to resign his office.

The victim, a Trainer, Pa. man who turned 21 earlier this month, testified during the trial this week that he had known Schiliro since he was about 12 years old and had come to admire and respect him.

Based on text messages Schiliro sent the man on the night of Feb. 21, he said the mayor appeared to need to talk. Schiliro sent a marked police car to pick up the man and bring him to his house.

Once there, the victim said Schiliro refused to talk until the other man had some wine with him. He then confessed he might be bisexual and allegedly indicated several times that he wanted to perform a sexual act on the young man.

As the evening wore on, Schiliro became despondent over the victim’s rejection and produced three different handguns, threatening suicide several times. The victim said he was able to talk the first two guns out of the mayor’s hands, but Schiliro had used the third to direct him around the room, telling him to sit down or stand up by pointing the barrel across his body. Schiliro then fired the gun into a box of copy paper across the room. A bullet was recovered from the wall and matched to a handgun previously owned by Schiliro, which he had sold to a gun shop following the incident.

Defense attorney Michael Malloy said in closing arguments that the victim had been inconsistent in his story, however. Malloy made much hay over the victim’s use of the word “waving” when describing Schiliro pointing the gun, noting he had said at a preliminary hearing that it only moved a few inches and was resting on his lap.

Galantino noted, however, that the victim had always said the gun was on Schiliro’s lap and was pointed at his leg as the two sat side-by-side. The victim had indicated Schiliro swept the barrel “across my personal body, telling me where to go” — at one point telling him to take his shirt off so he could see if the victim was wearing a wire.

“Even if that gun is only moving an inch, that gun is present and it has an impact on (the victim),” Galantino told the jury. “And if it is loaded — and we know that it was — the defendant has repeatedly now committed the crime of recklessly endangering another person, without any doubt.”

Malloy had also argued that the commonwealth had tried to build Schiliro into some great and powerful Oz who controlled the small borough and its police force, when he was only a blue-collar mayor in a small town where everyone knew each other. His asking an officer to pick up a friend and bring him to his home would have far less significance in that light, and the victim could have felt reasonably safe in leaving at any time during the hours-long encounter at Schiliro’s home — which he had multiple chances to do, as Schiliro left the room at least twice.

But Galantino argued that any average citizen calling an officer to pick someone up and bring them by their home would never work — that it was only by exercising his power as mayor that the victim got a ride to Schiliro’s home that night, and it was only the fear of reprisal from police at Schiliro’s direction that kept him there. When he finally did leave, the victim said he made sure to get permission from Schiliro that he could do so.

Sentencing has been set for Jan. 13 pending a presentence investigation along with psychosexual, psychological, and drug and alcohol evaluations. Schiliro remains free on $50,000 unsecured bail, but Judge James Nilon increased that amount to $100,000 with electronic home monitoring Friday. Schiliro will be able to remain free over the weekend and report to the bail office Monday for the new requirements.